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The University’s Global Institutes, Centers & Programs

Africana Studies Institute

Established in 1989, the primary mission of the Africana Studies Institute (formerly the Institute for African American Studies) is to enlighten and inform the University of Connecticut community and the people of the State of Connecticut, nation and the world about the history, culture, contributions and experiences of people of African descent in the United States and abroad. To achieve this goal, the ASI promotes high quality research, scholarship, and teaching of the African American experience and sponsors a wide variety of programs on topics and issues that are critical to Black America and pertinent to a better understanding of the Black world. Learn more.

Asian & Asian American Studies Institute

Housed in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Asian and Asian American Studies Institute at the University of Connecticut is a multidisciplinary research and teaching program. Distinguished by its global, diasporic, national, regional, and transnational orientations, the Institute brings two traditionally distinct fields of inquiry together in dynamic conversation: Asian Studies and Asian American Studies. Comprised of the humanities, social sciences, and the arts, the Institute’s research output and course offerings engage Asia, the Pacific, and the Americas not as static, monolithic sites but rather sets of shifting historical, geographic, and geopolitical zone of interaction, struggle, and cooperation. Learn more.

Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry

The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry is one of America’s hidden treasures—a superb collection of over 2,500 puppets from all over the world; an archive of books, manuscripts, posters, drawings, audio-visual materials and photographs all covering the history of puppetry. It is also the home of the Puppeteers of America’s Audio-Visual Collection: the largest collection of videotapes, films, and other media about puppetry in the United States. The Ballard Institute curates and produces exhibitions of puppetry, both at the Ballard Museum and for touring across the United States. The Institute also offers workshops, museum tours, artists’ forums, film showings, performances, and other events and programs that promote the art of puppetry as a twenty-first-century art form with deep historic and global roots. Learn more.

Center for Environmental Sciences and Engineering

The Center for Environmental Sciences and Engineering (CESE) at the University of Connecticut leads and promotes multidisciplinary research, education and outreach in environmental sciences, engineering, policy, and sustainability. Learn more.

Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER)

The University of Connecticut (UConn) is one of 33 universities nationwide designated as national resource centers for international business. Learn more.

Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life

Through its support of research, teaching, and public programs, the Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life seeks to foster scholarship and education in all facets of Judaic Studies at UConn, in the State of Connecticut, nationally, and internationally. Learn more.

Humanities Institute

The University of Connecticut Humanities Institute (UCHI), founded in 2001, seeks to enhance research and creativity in the humanities, broadly defined. In particular, UCHI promotes the development and productivity of University of Connecticut faculty through its fellowship, seminar, and workshop programs, by bringing outside scholars and authors to Connecticut, and by its support for scholarly conferences and journals. Learn more.

Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention and Policy (InCHIP)

The Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy (InCHIP) is a multidisciplinary research center dedicated to the study of the dynamics of health risk behavior and the processes of health behavioral change in individuals and targeted at-risk populations. Learn more.

El Instituto

El Instituto: Institute of Latina/o, Caribbean and Latin American Studies, is a research institute in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The institute offers a BA and MA degrees grounded in both traditional disciplinary and interdisciplinary methodologies, El Instituto is at the forefront of new ways of thinking about hemispheric Latina/o disaporas, U.S. Latina/os, Latin American and Caribbean societies and U.S./Latin American relations related to coloniality, race, migration, education, media, economics, health, cultural studies and human rights. El Instituto provides a central place for research, scholarship, and academic programs uniting over 60 scholars at the University of Connecticut. It also offers linkages to local, regional, national and hemispheric academic communities and areas of investigation with a historical research focus on the life of Latino and Puerto Rican communities in New England. Learn more.

Environmental Sciences

The B.S. in Environmental Science Program focuses on the study of living and nonliving parts of Earth, and evaluates human impacts to promote informed management. The program aims to educate students on the scientific principles and social factors underlying local, national and international environmental issues. Learn more.

Environmental Studies

The Environmental Studies major is an interdisciplinary program designed to provide students with the knowledge, skills, and perspectives needed to understand the interactions between human society and the environment. Understanding the ethical and cultural dimensions of our relationship with the environment, as well as the challenges of protecting it, requires insights from multiple perspectives, including the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences. Learn more.

Ethiopian Institute of Water Resources

What commodity is more valuable than all the gems, money, precious metals and wealth on Earth? Water. In the drought-ravaged expanse of Ethiopia, a sign in front of the Ministry of Water Resources (Addis Ababa) states simply: “Water is Life!!” A large multi-institutional team of researchers from UConn and Ethiopian universities was awarded a prestigious USAID/Higher Education for Development (HED) planning grant to support sustainable development and management of water resources in Ethiopia. UConn is committed to advancing hydrology studies and to bringing much-needed practical aid to regions of the globe where clean, plentiful water is scarce. Learn more.

Eurotech

The Eurotech Program is a five-year program that leads to a dual degree in German and engineering. Students complete a six-month internship in Germany and is designed to prepare students for a career in the global marketplace. Learn more.

GlobalEd2

Utilizing educational technologies currently available in most middle schools (computers with Internet connection), GlobalEd 2 situates students in a virtual, international decision-making environment focused on critical world issues. Across the country about 12-16 social studies classrooms participate in the simulation. Each classroom is assigned a country to represent. Within each classroom or “country”, students are further divided into a number of issue areas such as human rights, economic policies, environment, and health. Learn more.

India Studies

The India Studies Program at UConn endeavors to increase knowledge about India by creating new courses and integrating existing courses on India to constitute an India Studies minor. The minor is an interdisciplinary program, which draws on various departments including History, Fine Arts, Literatures, Cultures & Languages, English, Philosophy, Political Science, Economics, and Sociology to offer courses. The minor in India Studies is administered by the Asian and Asian American Studies Institute. Learn more.

Individualized & Interdisciplinary Studies

The Individualized & Interdisciplinary Studies Program (IISP) aims to enrich the undergraduate academic experience with interdisciplinary and unique learning opportunities. IISP administers the minors in African Studies, European Studies, and International Studies. Learn more.

Global House

Global House exists to help promote the internationalization of the UConn campus, and to provide support for incoming international students and for those returning from study abroad. Students have access to a Global House lounge in the McMahon Residence Hall which is used for classes, as a study lounge, for watching films, holding meetings, dance lessons, and many other cultural enrichment activities. There are few better ways to learn about other countries and cultures than living among people from around the globe. Learn more.

Rudd Center

The Rudd Center was founded in 2005 by Kelly Brownell, PhD, at Yale University, with a contribution from the Rudd Foundation. Key initiatives were launched as part of the Rudd Center’s work, based on a core philosophy of creating the greatest impact by working through important institutions that affect food policy and public health, such as schools and communities, government agencies, scientific and medical communities, and the media. After 10 successful years at Yale, the Rudd Center joined the University of Connecticut’s Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy (InCHIP) in 2015. The alignment between UConn and the Rudd Center provides a new platform for researchers to elevate their work to improve the food environment and public health.Learn more.